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...And who has a Landline anymore??? FAR more people have smartphones. Perhaps "not everyone", but FAR more, do. Bolster the wireless systems and add capacity - I am all for that. But clinging to old technology is dangerous, and holds us back.

An old system gives no evidence to who intruded into it. Why do you find this to sound "sarcastic" ? So the intruders will not be found as the system appears to be analog-controlled. Analog switches, be it by tone or physical = no recorded evidence. A "message to authorities" about...

Then they ought to be sending a SMS or text update instead. The problem is not the wireless network as primary, the problem is a capacity calculation, which is on the shoulders of the carrier and is not inherent to modern systems.

But nearly everyone has them in their pocket. The fact that the system is from "quite some time ago" is my point exactly, they serve no purpose but edge cases in the modern environment, and their cost has far outlived their benefit.

The newfound embracing of the old and useless is a problem. More and more resources are being put towards old peoples' nostalgia, instead of fostering the motivations of the technologically adept youth, where it should be, so that we can advance as a civilization. It's actually quite serious...

Compromises like this are obviously needed to keep system maintainers and providers on their toes; this "hack" served as a warning and call to attention that the system has issues. Exhibit A: the discussion we are having here. The "hackers" called to attention a vulnerability, and therefore...

And analytics systems could provide a morning message to people, "tornadoes likely today in this part of the state" versus "it's too late, go hide."

I said nobody knows WHAT TO DO. Which direction is the weather coming from; to where should I evacuate; when is the estimated time of arrival and magnitude? All of that is conveyed instantly in a SMS text, which could provide links to radar images where "a picture is worth a thousand words"...

And how, please elucidate, am I being a "dipshit"? I called out that Ars is signalling to the older crowd, likely to get clicks; as has been happening more and more lately. Conde Nast likely understands that there is some affluence in this demographic so it makes sense to attract their views...

Fore the second, 2007 was 10 years ago. Wireless capacity has increased vastly sine then. Fewer people make voice calls than even five years ago; I cannot remember the last time I have made a "phone call". So as Verizon mentioned, SMS will get through in these situations when voice calls...

Disgusting reply.

How does it feel to be losing your relevance? The younger generations are steeped in tech from birth and we understand it inherently. These throwbacks to "simpler times" are call-outs to older, less technologically-able people to make them feel good when things took less of a technological...

(nudge, nudge) "Hey Grandma, we've got to evacuate." A blind person isn't going to know what to do when they hear a siren, either. In fact nobody will, it conveys no information besides "unspecified emergency" by means of inciting panic.

What crap. The ham radio idiots say the same thing, but I've seen zero evidence of modern wireless systems getting "overloaded" in a storm. This seems to only be quoted in the hypothetical. I have never seen a wireless carrier outage in a modern city. Some will go down due to improper...

If you don't own a smartphone or don't understand how to use one in 2017 you have other problems.

Yawn. Old, dusty, irrelevant. I understand Ars needs to keep posting these pieces to keep the attention of the aging and nostalgic >35yo crowd, but Ars is going to rapidly lose relevancy even more than they have if they continue. At least they've done away with their "old media" nostalgia-fest...

This is what I want to know. Surely an SMS or social media based alert system would be far more fitting in 2017. Perhaps the answer to this is to get rid of some antiques and move on to something more modern and useful. An API (think IFTTT) could be provided and a few blinks of your kitchen...

You sound jealous. Young people don't have the internal mental "you can't do it this way" barriers that old people have, and sorry to say we ARE naturally at home among technology unlike your generation. We live and breathe tech, whereas people over 40 struggle to comprehend how it works. I...

Still trying to bring in those boomers and GEN-Xers with this obsession with the olds lately, Ars? Amiga? Really? Who cares.

I can't put my finger on why, but this article really bothers me. (Besides the grating spelling 'peirce' of the device pictured.) Is Ars now trying to get readership in a new demographic? Is it time to try to attract the Olds to Ars? This is out of place on Ars. I probably don't speak for...